October 2007 MMA News Archive - Page 5

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“Gabriel Gonzaga put Ludlow on the mixed martial arts map. His manager, Marco Alvan, is trying to make sure it stays there. Alvan has added two renowned fighters to his Team Link stable, which already includes Gonzaga - a top heavyweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Thiago Silva is 11-0 and will fight at next month’s “UFC 78? in Newark, N.J., while Paulo Filho is the middleweight champion of UFC’s sister promotion - World Extreme Cagefighting.”
Interesting aside: In the article Filho confirms his rumored WEC 185-pound title bout against former UFC welterweight contender Frank Trigg on December 12. Good fight.

The UFC will hold a media conference call tomorrow to announce a new television deal. And whether it’s mere coincidence or a calculated maneuver, the UFC will begin the call 30 minutes before Randy Couture’s press conference kicks off in Las Vegas.

The California-based Strikeforce organization, which took a good-sized leap toward mainstream status with last month’s show at the Playboy Mansion, will crown its first-ever heavyweight champion during next month’s Nov. 16 show.

"The UFC will hold a media conference call tomorrow to announce a new television deal. And whether it’s mere coincidence or a calculated maneuver, the UFC will begin the call 30 minutes before Randy Couture’s press conference kicks off in Las Vegas."

Before you start flaming... I love Randy!! You can search my posts, and you won't find a single post of me saying one bad thing about him (except some borderline comments when it comes to money). I did not post this as a blow to Randy's reputation, and I don't necessarily agree with the manner in which the author of this states some of his thoughts. The reason I just to post this is because this guy makes some good comments. Obviously he is wrong about the numbers ($250,000++ per fight)
"Randy Couture said he wasn't getting enough respect—which of course implies that the respect of millions of fans across the world and hundreds of other fighters wasn't sufficient enough for him.
Instead, Couture needed the approval of a fat, bald, ex-boxer and two money-grubbing brothers. I don't see how money could have been such a huge problem—Couture was making at least $100,000 a fight."

Jens Pulver is recognized as one of the top MMA fighters today, and a very tough guy in the cage. But he also had a very tough childhood and is perhaps fortunate to be alive today.
Excellent column, it's another story that displays how fighters are very different when they're outside the ring or cage compared to when they're inside. Pulver deserves a lot of credit for being willing to open up about his past like he did.

Let’s ignore for a moment that M-1’s main financial backer Michael Baybak is part of a religion that has a reputation for bilking it’s members of all their money. I’m not the religion expert, so I’ll let Jake deal with that specific issue. What I do want to talk about is how this guy also has a reputation for artificially boosting his stocks and then selling as soon as they’re high:

Neither man agreed to be interviewed for this story, yet both threatened legal action through attorneys. “What these guys do is take over companies, hype the stock, sell their shares, and then there’s nothing left,” says John Campbell, a former securities lawyer who was a director of mining company Athena Gold until Baybak and Gerbino took it over.

“Two layers about 15-20 [stitches] in the meat, and 15-20 in the skin…. It cost me about five times as much as I made just to train for that fight, I took a huge financial loss, I’m more upset about that than I am about losing actually. I left with $4,800 after taxes and deductions. Every time I fight I gamble with my health, reputation and financial well being and to have a cut just detroy all my hard work and personal sacrifice like that, I can’t help but wonder if it’s even worth it.”

Dana recently announced it on Spike TV's Scream Awards. And now it is made completely official as of ufc.com
Originally this fight was supposed to happen some two years ago, but the PRIDE people wanted in the PRIDE ring and the UFC people wanted it in the UFC's octagon so nothing ended up happening. This could have also happened in the 2003 PRIDE GP but Rampage beat Chuck via second round KO.
Then this fight was also supposed to happen at UFC 76 but Wanderlei was just moving into the US so he needed more time to train. When the ufc sent wand him his contract, it had two options, one was fighting in Sept. and the other option was to fight in Dec. And he chose Dec.
Now the fight that fight fans have been waiting years for is now just out of reach. It wont be long now... Two of the most dominant champions of the two best MMA organization finally facing off against each other.
(For announcement video)

The Champ needs YOUR help !!!!!!!!
I received an email today from Joe Lauzon. It seems that Rampage is trying to get MMA into his Hometown..... But in order to do that he needs you to sign a petition. Lets show some love from MMaPlayground.com and sign this !

In this week's edition of The Tuesday Takedown, we'll break down the happenings at UFC 77, where Rich Franklin goes from here, who's left for Anderson Silva to fight, what Brock Lesnar's signing means to the UFC, and much more. As always, we'll also take a look at the latest news from the world of mixed martial arts!

Like most fighters and fans, Anderson Silva’s first exposure to mixed martial arts and the UFC came through Royce Gracie, who showed the world that technique and skill could battle on an even playing field with size, strength and speed.

When the news hit the street that Brock Lesnar was about to embark on a career in mixed martial arts, many snickered. Sure, he was a former NCAA Division I National Champion in wrestling, but that was in 2000. This was 2006, and a lot can change in six years.

Despite his status as professional wrestling’s reigning superstar - a man who was on national television weekly, and on the covers of magazines and video games - Brock Lesnar always kept an eye on the world of mixed martial arts.

After nearly a year away from the Octagon, UFC Middleweight Dean "The Boogeyman" Lister today confirmed that he will return to fighting at UFC 79 in December. His opponent will be Jordan Radev.
Looking at some of the big names he's been helping train recently (namely Couture & CC), he should have no trouble getting re-acclimated to fighting after a long time away.